Log barker



J. S. POTTS LOG BARKER Oct. 23, 1962 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 24, 1959 INVENTOR JOHN .5. P0773 BY fiea myam ATTORNEY 1962 J. s. POTTS 3,059,675

LOG BARKER Filed March 24, 1959 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 171.67 2 JOHN J. arr:

ATTORNEY J. S. POTTS LOG BARKER Oct. 23, 1962 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 24. 1959 INVENTOR JOHN J. POTTS ATTORNEY BYfizal ma J. S. POTTS LOG BARKER 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 24. 1959 INVENTOR JOHN S. POTTS Y ATTORNEY J. S. POTTS Oct. 23, 1962 LOG BARKER 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 24. 1959 FiG;

I N VE NTOR JOHN S. POTTS ATTORNEY J. S. POTTS Oct. 23, 1962 LOG BARKER 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed March 24. 1959 INVENTOR JOHN S. POTTS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,059,675 LOG BARKER John S. Potts, 30 Indian Spring Drive, Williamsburg, Va. Filed Mar. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 801,545 2 Claims. (Cl. 144-208) bark-removing-head mounted thereover that is easily controlled for engagement with the log and moved along the log.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mounting suspension for a cantilever arrangement of barkremoving head which affords accurate up and down movement of the actual cutter element in a vertical plane.

A further object of the invention is to provide for two trunnion car mountings for supporting and rotating a log to be debarked wherein the car positioning is facilitated to accommodate various lengths of logs and to position the log in any one of a number of selected positions in the log barker.

Yet a further object of the invention is to provide for a highly flexible control from one station of the movements of the trunnion cars to support and rotate the log, to eject the log when debarked, and to provide a bark-removinghead that is moved along the log at selected rates and into and out of engagement with the log all from the one control station.

Other objects of this invention will, in part, be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.

This invention is disclosed in the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and it comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts that will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of my invention reference is had to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the log debarker showing the relative position of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a view looking into the left hand end of the debarker shown in FIG. 1 but on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a view looking into the right hand end of the debarker shown in FIG. 1 also on an enlarged scale;

'FIG. 4 is a view of the left hand mobile trunnion car on line 4-4 of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of a trunnion frame;

FIG. 6 is a broken away view on an enlarged scale of the bark-removing-head rig along line 66 of FIG. 1 showing its pivotal support;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the outer end portion of the bark-removing-head;

FIG. 8 is an isometric view of the bark removing flails as are mounted in the bark-removing-head;

FIG. 9 is a somewhat diagrammatic and isometric view of the mounting and control for the bark-removing-head;

FIG. '10 is a diagrammatic view of the track and trunnion cars illustrating their control;

FIG. 11 shows an outline of the control panel afifording electrical and hydraulic control of various power equipment of the log deb arking apparatus.

Throughout the description of the apparatus like reference numbers refer to similar parts.

The log debarker is made up of a main frame 10 of generally parallelepipedal shape having a pair of spaced apart rails 11 and 12 forming a track at the bottom thereof, left hand and right hand log supporting trunnion cars 13 and '14, respectively, to support a log L to be debarked and a cutter head rig generally indicated at 15.

The main frame, as will be described in more detail hereinafter, has a cutter head rig support structure 16 shown best in FIG. 9. This support structure serves to support and control the bark-removing-head mounting for rotation up and down on a mounting arm 17 attached to a plunger '18 that is received for controlled lateral sliding movement in a slotted tube 19 having a longitudinal slot 19a therein through which extends the mounting arm 17 for the bark-removinghead 15 The slotted tube 19 is mounted at each end on frame 10, for example, on the top side of 'I-beam members 21 and 22 by U-shaped hold downs secured to the tops of the I-beams 21 and 22 as by welding or other arrangement.

Main Frame Main frame 10 may be built up of welded together metal members of various cross sectional shapes to best serve the purpose of further mounting parts of the apparatus making up the complete log debarker. As here shown the frame is generally parallelepipedal in shape.

A rectangular bottom pipe frame has longitudinal spaced apart pipe members 24 and 25 to which are welded end pipe members 26 and 27. Extending parallel to the side members and intermediate therebetween are spaced apart intermediate members 28 and 29. Intermediate transverse spaced apart cross members 30 and 31 are positioned adjacent the center of the base frame arrangement as shown in FIG. 10'.

An upright end frame is secured at each end to the base frame and the right hand end, see FIGURES 1 and 3, comprises two vertical channel members 32 and 33 joined together by a transverse cross channel member 21 spaced down from the top of the channels 32 and 33.

The left end as shown in FIG. 1 is similarly constructed of two vertical channel members 35 and 36 connected together adjacently below their top ends by a transverse I-beam 22. It will be noted in FIG. 2 that the I-beam members 21 and 22 are secured in spaced relation below the top ends of the respective upright channels 32 and 33 for member 21 and respective upright channels 35 and 36 for member 22. A diagonal brace member 38 at the right end and 39 at the left end secured to the respective uprights 32-33 and brace 39 to uprights 35-36 serves to strengthen the frame work. The right hand end frame has pipe braces or the like 41 and 41 connecting respectively bottom frame member 24 to upright 32 and bottom longitudinal frame member 25 to upright 33. At the other end there are like members 42 and 43. At the extreme tops of uprights 32 and 33 there is connected a cross channel member 34 while at the other end a cross channel member 37 connects the tops of uprights 35 and 36.

superstructure of pipe work 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 is added to support a canopy (not shown) and to form a frame support for certain controls. A vertical post 43 and 44 at each end has attached pulleys such as 45 and 46 at their respective top ends to support cables 45a and 46a having weights 45b and 46b to take up the slack in electrical power cable trained under a guide pulley 47 at the right end and 48 at the left end respectivel) to supply power to the electrical motors on the respective trunnion cars 13 and 14.

T runnion Cars The trunnion cars 13 and 14 are each alike. In FIG. 5 is shown the built up frame generally indicated at 60 comprising a square shaped base 61 of welded together channel members having welded to the upper faces of the members 61a and 61b vertical pipe members or the like 62, 63 and 64 on 61a and 65, 66 and 67 on 61b. Vertical pipe members 62 and 65 extend higher than respective vertical members 63 and 66 so that barrier members (not shown) may be supported by the cross members 74 and 74a. Bottom cross channel members 68 and 69 extend from 61a to 61b and motor 70 for driving the trunnion wheels is mounted on 69. Members 62 and 63 are braced by cross brace members 71 and 72 while a diagonal brace 73 serves to brace members 65 and 66. A transverse cross member 74 extends between the tops of members 63 and 66. A mounting channel 75 is positioned in spaced relation below member 74 and is welded at one end to upright 63 and bracing 72 and at the other end to upright 66.

At the tops of uprights 63 and 64 are tubular bearing members 76 and 77 into which is secured bearings to support an axle shaft mounting trunnion drive Wheels 7 8 and 79 and a chain sprocket 80. About sprocket 80 is trained a drive chain 81 which leads to a drive sprocket on drive motor 70. Cooperating with the trunnion drive wheels 78 and 79 is a wheel 82 mounted on a stub shaft (not shown) suitably supported in a pipe mounting 83 attached to upright 67, see FIG. 5. This idler wheel 82 is positioned axially so as to be in general alignment between wheels 78 and 79.

The frame 61 has pillow block bearings such as 84 and 85, see FIG. 4, in which is mounted an axle 86 having a double flanged wheel 87 at one end which rolls on rail 12 and a wheel 88 at the other end which rolls on rail 11. Another set of like bearings, shaft and wheels supports the other end of frame 61 as shown in FIG. 1.

A log ejector arm 89 having a log engaging shoe plate 89a thereon is supported in a plate-like bracket 90 pivoted at 91 to bearing support 76 in axial alignment with the axis of driven wheels 78 and 79.

A power cylinder 92 is pivotally mounted at 94 on cross channel 75 and the piston 93 of the cylinder is pivotally attached at 93a to the ejector arrn pivotally mounted plate 90. As shown in FIG. 4, hydraulic power leads 92a and 92b lead from the cylinder 92 to suitable controls and a power source.

Drive for T runnion Cars Each trunnion car 113 and 14 is under a separate control cable arrangement to move it back and forth on the track shown schematically in FIG. 10. A cable drum 100 for car 14 is mounted on a shaft 101 supported in bearings 102 and 103 and it has a cable 104 trained thereover. One end 104a of the cable is led through an idler pulley 105, mounted on cross member 31, and secured to the back side of car 14 on its frame 61. The other end 104b of cable 104 is led from around drive drum 100 and secured to the front end of frame 61 of car 14. A drive sprocket 106 mounted on shaft 101 is connected by a drive chain to a hydraulic drive motor 107. Hydraulic motor 107 is connected through suitable supply and return piping 108 to a hydraulic pump 109 driven by belt 110 from electric motor 111.

The other trunnion car is driven in a like manner by a drive drum 112, see FIGURES 2 and 10, mounted on a shaft 113 supported in bearings 1 14 and 115. Shaft 113 for drum 112 has a sprocket 116 and a chain drive to sprocket on a hydraulic pump 119 driven by a belt 120 from another pulley on electric motor 111. Other types of drive may be used but hydraulic motors lend themselves to positive and quick response control.

Electric power cables 121 for the drive motor 70 of each trunnion car and hydraulic flexible conduits 92a and 92b are supported by a cable 45a leading over an idler pulley 45 and biased by a weight 4512. Thus, as the car moves in and out to adjust for various lengths of logs L, such power leads are maintained in a relatively taught condition.

4, Bark-Removing-Head Mounting and Control A particularly advantageous feature of this log barker is the mounting and control of the bark-removing-head 15. Shown in FIG. 9 in a diagrammatic manner is the elongated conduit 19 having an elongated slot 19a in a wall thereof to accommodate the mounting arm 17 of the bark-removing-head. Rotation of the conduit causes the bottom edge of the slot to engage arm 17 and raise or lower it. Reinforcing spaced apart plates 122 are welded onto the tube member 19. Other constructions might be used such as a heavier conduit or tube 19 that would not necessarily require these spaced apart reinforcements or stiffener members 122. Tube 19 has mounted thereon a weight 123 supported on the end of a rod member 124 welded to an end of tube 19 to extend tangentially thereto as shown in FIGURES 2 and 9. It is braced by a support member 125 extending diagonally to tube 19. Oppositely positioned to brace member 125 is an ear 126 extending radially to the rear which serves as a control arm. To each of the ears 126 at each end of tube 19 is attached a hydraulic power cylinder 127 pivotally mounted at its lower end 128 to the main frame. Power cylinder 127 has a piston rod 129 projecting from its upper end where a chain 130 is attached at its upper end to ear 126 and by a clevis 131 at its lower end to the top end of piston 29. A flexible hydraulic conduit 132 leads from the cylinder 127 to suitable controls. The two power cylinders at each end of tube 19 operate in unison to rotate the tube 19 counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 2 to raise the cutter head 15 slidably mounted in the tube.

The mounting for the bark-removing-head 15 in tube 19 is a plunger-like member 18 that has attached to the opposite ends, the ends of a and 150b of cable 150. Cable 150 is led over a right hand end pulley 152 mounted on the main frame 10 by a bracket 153. Cable 150 leads downwardly from pulley 152 to a control drum 154 fixed to a shaft 155 mounted in suitable bearing supports 156. On shaft 155 is also fixed a drive sprocket 157 that receives a chain 158 thereover as shown in FIG. 1 that leads to a sprocket on a speed reducer 159 driven by an electric motor 160 through a belt drive 161. The lower reach of cable 150 leads across the bottom of main frame 10 to a lower idler pulley 162 mounted on frame 10 by a shaft 163 supported in bearings 164. The cable 150 then leads upwardly from pulley 162 to and over an upper left end idler pulley 165 mounted on frame 10 by a bracket 166 that has attached bracing 167.

Bark-Removing-Head The cutterhead generally indicated at 15 is attached to plunger 18 by a radially extending attached mounting plate 17 extending through slot 19a in tube 19. The bark-removing-head may be built up in various ways but in the illustration plate 17 is received in a slotted end 171 of a tube where it is attached as by welding. A drive motor mounting of plate 172 extends rearwardly from the top rear end of tube 170 to which it is attached as by welding. Suitable vertically extending stiffening plates 173 are'positioned each side of tube 170 between plate 17 and plate 172 to which they are attached as by welding so that this platform or plate 172 serves as a support for mounting the drive motor 174 in a balancing position just above and to the rear of tube 19, see FIG. 6. A generally triangular shaped frame-work 175 attached to the top of plate 172 serves as a support for the power cable to the motor 174 and flexible hydraulic power lines 176 to a power cylinder 177 for adjustably positioning a log riding shoe as will be described.

Within the lower end of tube 170 is received a mounting tube or sleeve 178, see FIG. 7, that is pinned in place by a transversely extending bolt 179. Overlapping the outer end of sleeve 178 is an attached generally vertically extending mounting plate 180 that has welded to its front outer edges end plates 181 and 182. Attached to the top and front end of these end plates 181 and 182 is a hood 183 so that the bottom is open to receive the cutter member generally indicated at 184 in FIG. '8. Suitable bearing plates 185 are attached in the lower portion of each end plate 181 and 182 by mounting bolts 186.

The bark-removing-head or debarker 184 is built up about a shaft 187 which is received in suitable mounting plates 185. On shaft 187 is a specially formed elongated hub which has four sets of bifurcated members 189 and 190 arranged 90 degrees apart. Between the bifurcations 189 and 190 are received the ends links of short shots of chain 191' that are attached by through bolts .192. Four shots of chain 191 are positioned in opposite bifurcations while three shots are arranged in the other bifurcations in a spacing axially between the four mounted shots of chain. A V-belt drive pulley 193 is mounted on the outer end of shaft 187 outside the end plate 182, see FIG. 6.

Incorporated in the head mounting for the chains 1911 is an adjustably positioned single shoe 194 that rides on the log and spaces the head from the log surface. This shoe 194 has rods 195 attached that are received in spaced tubular bearing members 196 attached to the outer surface of end plate 181. A cross head 197 having a slot 197a therein is attached to join the upper ends of rods 195. A bell-crank assembly 198 is pivotally mounted at pivot position 199 thereof in an aperture in the top of a post 200 extending up from the top of head 183. One arm of the bell-crank 1198 which extends from pivot portion 199 is received in slot 197a while the other part is pivotally attached at 201 to the end of a piston rod 177a of the hydraulic power cylinder 177 that is pivotally mounted at 17712 to a lug extending up from the top of tube 170. Movement of piston rod 177a rocks bell-crank lever 198 to raise and lower shoe 194. To drive the pulley 193 of the chains 191, a plurality of V-belts 20 1 connect it with a. V-belt pulley 202 on drive motor 174.

Control Panel In FIG. 11 there is a diagrammatically shown a control desk or panel D arrangement which may be installed separate and apart from the main frame at a position most advantageous to the operator. It may be placed to the rear and to one side or to one side of the front so that the operator will have a commanding View at all times of the debarking action of the log that is under the control of the various means at his control.

-I claim as my invention:

1. In a log barker having an elongated main frame, the improvement for operation therewith to debark a log, an elongated conduit having a slotted aperture extending longitudinally along and radially through the wall thereof,

said conduit being mounted for limited rotation in bearing means at each end thereof supported on said main frame and parallel therewith, a plunger member mounted in said slotted conduit, an endless cable connected at each end thereof to opposite ends of said plunger and extending in said slotted conduit, pulley support and drive means in said main frame for selectively moving said cable to urge said plunger back and forth in the longitudinal direction of said slotted conduit, a bark-removing-head assembly mounted on said plunger and having a portion thereof extending radially through said slotted aperture in the conduit and engageable with wall portions of the conduit defining the slot, whereby the bark-removing-head assembly is raised and lowered in a vertical plane to move rotary bark removing means in the bark removing head assembly into and out of bark removing contact with a rotating log upon rotating said conduit.

2. In a log barker having an elongated frame, the improvement for operation therewith to debark a log, an elongated conduit having a slotted aperture extending 1ongitudinally along and radially through the wall thereof, said conduit being mounted for limited rotation in bearing means attaching it to said frame in a parallel position therewith, a plunger member mounted in said slotted conduit, means extending in said slotted conduit and connected to said plunger for moving it selectively back and forth in said slotted conduit, a bark-removing-head assembly mounted on said plunger and having a portion thereof extending radially through said slotted aperture in the conduit, and power control means connected to said slotted conduit for rocking the same whereby the bark removing head assembly is raised and lowered in a vertical plane to move a rotary bark removing means on the bark removing assembly into and out of bark removing contact with a rotating log.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,813,783 Tomlinson et al July 7, 1931 1,955,437 Oeser et al. Apr. 17, 1934 2,011,037 Cook Aug. 13, 1935 2,681,670 Prentice June 22, 1954 2,689,591 Woodward Sept. 21, 1954 2,702,570 Rothrock Feb. 22, 1955 2,795,320 Dillingham June 11, 1957 2,802,496 Nicholson Aug. 13, 1957 2,831,317 [Watkins Apr. 22, 1958 2,831,515 Potts Apr. 22, 1958 2,841,195 Fulghum July 1, 1958 2,867,252 Dillingham Jan. 6, 1959 2,867,316 Uhlenkott Jan. 6, 1959 2,901,011 Eaton Aug. 25, 1959 

